Avoid college spring break at all costs?

DH and I are planning a Princess cruise for next year. Right now we are booked on the Emerald for a 5 day Eastern Caribbean departing on March 5. I read that Florida colleges have spring break that week. :( Is that going to make a huge difference in our cruise experience? The other option for the 5 day Eastern Caribbean itinerary is the Regal in early November or the Emerald in mid- Dec (which I figured might be Christmas break time) or January. Having a sunny, warm time of year that we can enjoy the weather and DH can snorkel is very important to us, but a peaceful cruise experience is very important too! Any thoughts? Thanks!

any short cruises are not going to be peaceful especially if schools are out

JMO

It isn't just a cruise during the spring beak period that's a problem. It's the combination of less-than-seven-day-cruise plus spring break that can lead to a less than enjoyable experience.

I know it's hard for working people to get away for a 7+ day vacation, especially if travel is involved, but that is what you need to do in order to avoid the college party crowd.

Enjoy!

I completely understand that a longer cruise would be less likely to include party cruisers, but unfortunately, for a number of reasons, we can't be gone for that long this time. Do you think that it is worth cruising at all if we are tied to shorter itineraries?

The best times we've cruised has been November/early December. Our very first cruise was a 5 day, first week of December. It was our first cruise, so it was a nice way to introduce ourselves to cruising. We got hooked. Our last cruise was the week before Thanksgiving, we are doing the same week this year but a longer cruise.

DH and I are planning a Princess cruise for next year. Right now we are booked on the Emerald for a 5 day Eastern Caribbean departing on March 5. I read that Florida colleges have spring break that week. :( Is that going to make a huge difference in our cruise experience? The other option for the 5 day Eastern Caribbean itinerary is the Regal in early November or the Emerald in mid- Dec (which I figured might be Christmas break time) or January. Having a sunny, warm time of year that we can enjoy the weather and DH can snorkel is very important to us, but a peaceful cruise experience is very important too! Any thoughts? Thanks!

Common myth is that lots of college students cruise on spring break, actual fact is that they don't because it is too expensive. It is much easier for them to go to the beach, your bigger problem is K-12 spring breaks when teens and tweens take over the ship and run around causing lots of issues.

I completely understand that a longer cruise would be less likely to include party cruisers, but unfortunately, for a number of reasons, we can't be gone for that long this time. Do you think that it is worth cruising at all if we are tied to shorter itineraries?

No, not the message you should take away. You asked about spring break cruising and people will give you the generic answer. Specific itinerary as well as cruise line impact the demographics aboard the ship.

I think your choice of Princess will significantly reduce your fears that it will be a party booze-cruise. You won't find any hairy chest contests or drinking contests poolside on Princess.

Everybody cruises for different reasons and "we" don't know you, where you're from and what you look for in an ideal vacation. We cruise to get to the ports. Itinerary is more important then the ship. We travel from Wisconsin to all ports and the cost of air transportation, pre-cruise hotel and local transportation costs can be more expensive than the cruise itself. Spring break is the most expensive time of year for us to do anything "from/in" Florida.

The "kids" have also discovered that it costs less to cruise than to stay in a beachfront hotel anywhere on the Florida coast.

If you can drive to the port, and stay away from Carnival, than short itineraries from FL ports shouldn't be a significant problem during spring break.

ENJOY!!

Common myth is that lots of college students cruise on spring break, actual fact is that they don't because it is too expensive. It is much easier for them to go to the beach, your bigger problem is K-12 spring breaks when teens and tweens take over the ship and run around causing lots of issues.

Bingo! It was the older adolescents and young teens that gave us problems on our last cruise. Now, it was Texas spring break (Mar 9-15), it was the Carnival Magic and it was a 6-day cruise to Mexico (Costa Maya, Progresso, Cozumel). The perfect storm.

I believe about 1/3 of the pax on the ship were under 18. The other 2/3 were packing into the adult comedy club shows and NO ONE was watching the little monsters.

The aft hot tubs (rated for 9 bathers) were each seething with 18 to 20 splashing, diving, writhing 8 to 10 year olds. The elevators were filled with kids just riding up and down, spilling drinks (I hope that puddle was a spilled drink!), dripping ice cream and exiting with all 14 buttons lit.

The last night was the worst. I actually saw about 20 kids pile out of a elevator after trying to see how many they could pack in and still get the door closed. Where were their parents?

I agree, I would avoid it at all costs. Luckly my wife is in a business where its 100% impossible to take March or April off :)

Problem Solved for us

Seeing spring break literally goes on for weeks as different schools have different vacation schedules, we sailed HAL ships during spring break many times and never had an issue to speak of. Sure, the kids would sometimes sit on the stairwells but no big deal. We were able to 'pass' by them. We never saw crazy goings on or wild parties so I credit the kids and likely the officers and crew on HAL ships for controlling any potential disturbances.

IF there were incidents, we were lucky to not be aware of them.

I agree that it depends on the cruise you book. We just did a 5 day cruise on Royal in March - our Spring Break. While there was a group of college aged kids who just drank the cruise away, we never had an issue with them. They stuck to "their" bar and occasionally got in the hot tubs. We actually forgot they were there when we were other places on the ship.

Yes, you take a chance cruising during this time, but it could work out just fine.

I think it depends upon your tolerance of unsupervised children and teens. I have found some parents forget the kids while they are out having a good time.

Actually March 5 is pretty early - the real Spring Break scene generally runs from mid-March to early April. The first week of March is so close after Presidents Week as to preclude students from schools which have Presidents Week off.

Also, Princess is something of a "grown ups' " line - not as much as Celebrity or HAL, but certainly less likely to have the heavy partying which is more to be expected on Carnival's and NCL's short itineraries..

There were a lot of posts about this on the RC board this year. Someone posted a link to this website (https://www.tripsmarter.com/panama-city-beach/events/spring-break-college-university-dates ) which will show you all of the university spring breaks. March 5th is not too early, especially for universities.

Actually March 5 is pretty early - the real Spring Break scene generally runs from mid-March to early April. The first week of March is so close after Presidents Week as to preclude students from schools which have Presidents Week off.

 

Also, Princess is something of a "grown ups' " line - not as much as Celebrity or HAL, but certainly less likely to have the heavy partying which is more to be expected on Carnival's and NCL's short itineraries..

This may or may not be true. Most college spring breaks are over by the 15th of March, so March 5th is right in the middle of college spring breaks.

K-12 spring breaks, which cause the biggest issues on cruise ships are typically the two weeks before and the two weeks after Easter.

Cruise lines are doing a lot to curb the college crowd. Carnival restricts passengers sharing a cabin. NCL doesn't sell their beverage package to people under a certain age during certain weeks. Others do other things.

Heavy partying simply does not go on on either Carnival or NCL but kids running around sure does.

We cruise during early to mid December almost every year--good weather, great prices, few kids of any age, as long as it is before the start of Christmas holidays.

We've also cruised several times in January, same as above. If your ports are in the actual Caribbean, weather should be fine. If several ports are in the Bahamas, it is possible to hit somewhat cooler temperatures as their weather is similar to the Miami area--which is usually very nice but does have cool spells.

We normally cruise for 14 days or more, but had a great time on the one 5 day cruise we were on. For us, though, flying in for shorter cruises is hardly worth it.

DH and I are planning a Princess cruise for next year. Right now we are booked on the Emerald for a 5 day Eastern Caribbean departing on March 5. I read that Florida colleges have spring break that week. :( Is that going to make a huge difference in our cruise experience? The other option for the 5 day Eastern Caribbean itinerary is the Regal in early November or the Emerald in mid- Dec (which I figured might be Christmas break time) or January. Having a sunny, warm time of year that we can enjoy the weather and DH can snorkel is very important to us, but a peaceful cruise experience is very important too! Any thoughts? Thanks!

We sailed a 5 night Ruby Princess in mid March 2014 out of FLL. I was actually surprised at the lack of Spring Breakers. If they were there we, didn't see them. In fact DH and I, who are in our late 40's, felt like the youngsters on the ship. The main demographic on the ship seemed to be Snow Bird couples from up north and/or groups from Florida Retirement Villages.

Actually March 5 is pretty early - the real Spring Break scene generally runs from mid-March to early April. The first week of March is so close after Presidents Week as to preclude students from schools which have Presidents Week off.

 

Also, Princess is something of a "grown ups' " line - not as much as Celebrity or HAL, but certainly less likely to have the heavy partying which is more to be expected on Carnival's and NCL's short itineraries..

My sons, and now my daughters, university always has Spring Break the first week of March. Most universities in Michigan do as well.

The Ft. Lauderdale beach area was a mob scene this year at that time. Definitely high time for the spring breakers, wherever they came from. For me personally, I wouldn't take a 5 day cruise at that time on any mass market cruise line. We always sail at that time but stick to the 10 day itineraries. Never an issue.

Sorry but don't think spring break cruises are any worse....We have been on cruises that you would never expect to have a party atmosphere...any ship, any itinerary, any timeframe, any age group and demographics it can happen ;)

Does anyone else sort of enjoy cruising with Spring Breakers?

They certainly add life to the ship and bring back fond memories of when we were young! :D

LuLu

Does anyone else sort of enjoy cruising with Spring Breakers?

They certainly add life to the ship and bring back fond memories of when we were young! :D

LuLu

We used to bring ours with us often when they all were...the youngest one now is a (new) teacher so still technically a "spring breaker" or so he thinks :D

I work at a University and spring break is one of the times I can get away. I had no problems last time and anticipate no problems this time either. I have also been to Walt Disney World during spring break. No issues then either, even though it was during high crowd days.